#20

“Oh, totally possible! I think I just need to reach out!”

Coming back to his senses at Park Hyeong-hun’s voice, Shin Ho-jae clasped his hands together in front of Kwon Jung-hyun’s calves, crossing his arms. It was to secure the hold more firmly.

“Ho-jae hyung! A little more to the left! Ah, sorry. To the right for you!”

Following Park Hyeong-hun’s pointing as a signal, Ho-jae shifted his position bit by bit, and Kwon Jung-hyun tightened the adductor muscles of his inner thighs.

Along with a heavy sense of weight, Ho-jae felt his face being pressed firmly vertically. It felt, so to speak, as if his face were trapped between thighs. Just imagining the posture made the area below his cheeks flush hot involuntarily.

“Ho-jae, a little more to the left… Ah, a little further back. Yes.”

And at the same time, he felt the soft scrotum and penis touch the back of his neck. The more Jung-hyun struggled, the more his groin and bare legs rubbed against Ho-jae’s neck and cheeks.

Shin Ho-jae muttered curses in his head.

If he had known he would have such an unpleasant experience, he would have forced Park Hyeong-hun to do it. Shin Ho-jae let out a small sigh and steadied his mind.

Now was the time to focus on achieving the goal, not on regrets.

“Wow! Success!”

Park Hyeong-hun cheered, throwing both arms up in the air.

Just as when giving someone a piggyback ride, they slowly knelt and lowered their heads, and in an instant, Ho-jae’s shoulders felt light. Park Hyeong-hun came running toward the two of them, acting flighty.

“Ho-jae hyung, you worked hard! Representative, were you okay? Ho-jae hyung is tall, so you went up really high!”

“Maybe it’s because Ho-jae supported me so well, but I actually have a bit of a fear of heights, and it wasn’t as scary as I thought.”

“You had a fear of heights? Then you should have said something!”

Kwon Jung-hyun looked at Ho-jae askance and chuckled softly.

“Well… I thought it would be okay.”

At the ambiguous answer, strangely, somewhere in his chest felt ticklish.

“Huh? Ho-jae hyung, why is the area below your cheeks so red? You didn’t get bitten by something, right? Ack, ugh.”

Shin Ho-jae swept his palm across Park Hyeong-hun’s face, pushing him away.

“I put on BB cream…!” Park Hyeong-hun muttered as if it were an injustice, but ignoring him, Ho-jae turned his head and locked eyes with Jung-hyun.

Jung-hyun was looking this way with a slight smile. Ho-jae deliberately avoided his gaze. For some reason, his mouth kept getting dry.

“But are all the flags hanging in such high places? I wonder if the hyungs who went alone are doing well.”

Park Hyeong-hun, using the black phone screen as a mirror to spread his BB cream, muttered as he put the phone in his pocket.

Shin Ho-jae looked up at the high branch where the flag had been tied.

He had thought the game was a bit sloppy for something meant to emphasize teamwork, and perhaps this was why.

Problems that required the cooperation of two or more people.

Shin Ho-jae took the phone out of his pocket. This place wasn’t like Korea; the signal grew weak as soon as one strayed slightly from the path.

Even now, only one bar of the signal strength indicator was lit. He thought of the three people scattered apart, but there was no sharp solution to be found by worrying about it now.

The second flag was hidden in a place where the mountain terrain was a bit rugged. Only after passing the same spot three times did Ho-jae, who had good eyesight, discover the flag hidden in a pile of leaves.

His relief at finding the flag more easily than expected was short-lived; the flag, which was much larger than the first, was buried halfway in the ground. Whether it had been fixed firmly in the earth or not, it showed no sign of coming out by force.

The three of them had to kneel and dig out the soil with their hands. Staying bent in the same position for nearly 30 minutes made their necks, backs, and legs ache.

By the time they collected both flags and returned to the camp, it was exactly 4:30, the appointed time.

There, Alexei Boroviev was waiting alone with a flag tucked in his pocket.

He said he had arrived ten minutes ago. The flag he found was reportedly crushed under a giant log, but he seemed to have been able to extract it relatively easily with the help of passersby.

Hyeong-hun whined around him like a puppy. He said he was deeply impressed by Alexei’s performance as the gatekeeper during their humiliating first matchup in Canada.

Since the phones weren’t working, they couldn’t use translators, the products of civilization. Naturally, Jung-hyun became the interpreter. Alexei was Russian, but since he spoke English quite well, the conversation was held in English.

Alexei, who had transferred from a Russian team, said he was staying at the Suwon lodging with his wife, who had been married for two years and was a fan of K-pop.

Hyeong-hun, who liked girl groups, showed off by dancing a few moves, and the cold-faced Alexei finally showed a smile.

Shin Ho-jae let out a small laugh from a step away. He felt he understood why Yuk Du-min was taking such friendly care of the new recruits this time.

“…They’re not coming.”

However, the problem was that it was almost 5 o’clock, and there was no sign of the remaining two people.

“The internet doesn’t work here, so texts aren’t going through. Calls aren’t working either.”

『…I think it’s going to rain.』

At Alexei’s words, they all looked up at the sky. The sky, which had clearly been blue, was now heavily covered with grey clouds.

“…….”

Shin Ho-jae unfolded the map he had put away. He stared for a long time at the points Moon Seung-yeol and Ahn Dong-ju had chosen.

The two points were slightly far from the camp, but if he walked fast, it seemed he could check them out and return in about 30 minutes. Ho-jae folded the map with a snap and spoke.

“I’ll go check.”

“Hyung, alone? Let’s go together!”

“No. In case our paths cross or we miss each other, you guys stay here. If I don’t come back after 30 minutes, then come this way.”

“Ah… that’s true. Yes, sir.”

Park Hyeong-hun agreed immediately and gave a brief explanation to Alexei, who was sitting next to him.

He was a fellow with great enthusiasm and a keen eye. Although his excessive enthusiasm had caused that incident earlier, he knew how to drop his stubbornness immediately when presented with a reasonable argument, as he was doing now.

He was a forward. He felt it might be okay to run the line with him. Shin Ho-jae glanced at Park Hyeong-hun once more and set off alone.

The path, designed like a walking trail, was a gentle slope, but the rain that had begun to fall slightly was the variable. The soil, stones, and grass began to get wet with rainwater, and naturally, the ground beneath his feet became slippery.

Ho-jae pulled the hood of his windbreaker over his head and quickened his pace. Just then, he heard the sound of footsteps following him rapidly from behind. Ho-jae looked back.

“I followed you because I thought it would be better to have two people in case something happened to those two.”

“…….”

“I ran into some staff earlier and informed them of the current situation. By now, the manager and coaching staff should have heard about it.”

It was Kwon Jung-hyun.

“Don’t worry. I won’t be in the way.”

Perhaps noticing that Ho-jae was looking at him with disapproval, Jung-hyun added another word. Ho-jae walked ahead in silence. After walking at a brisk pace for about 10 minutes.

“The raindrops are getting thicker.”

As he said, the rain that had been spraying like a mist was now clearly visible. To make matters worse, the surroundings grew darker due to the clouds.

Shin Ho-jae recalled the map engraved in his mind. The two flags were on either side of a small stream.

From the flat map, he could only determine the distance and the fact that there was a stream there. In terms of distance, it wasn’t so far that he wouldn’t be able to return in time.

However, traps would have been installed on the flags. What kind of traps? High branches like the first one? Or buried in the ground? Either would be somewhat difficult to handle alone.

One fortunate thing was that the locations of the two flags were relatively close. If doing it alone was difficult, there was a possibility that the two had met and joined forces.

The best scenario would be that the two had missed Ho-jae and had already arrived at the meeting place. But in the unlikely event that an accident had occurred and the two were unable to move.

Thinking that far, Shin Ho-jae’s pace quickened involuntarily. He climbed the mountain path, which was becoming steeper, without his breathing faltering once.

“Ah.”

Tuduk, tuduk. Beyond the sound of rain hitting the leaves, a small sound was heard. Only then did Ho-jae remember that the person following him was an ordinary person, and he stopped walking.

Kwon Jung-hyun, perhaps having slipped on a wet stone, was pushing himself up from the ground. As Ho-jae turned back, Kwon Jung-hyun looked up with an embarrassed face, sensing his presence.

“I just said I wouldn’t be in the way, and now this. How embarrassing.”

“…….”

Shin Ho-jae examined him closely.

Since Kwon Jung-hyun’s legs were already dirty from kneeling and digging soil earlier, it was difficult to tell if there were any scratches. Sensing that gaze, he offered a further explanation.

“I didn’t fall; I just almost slipped.”

Ho-jae’s gaze dropped to his toes. The indoor training shoes he was wearing were the problem. The soles would be relatively slippery.

He could see several small scratches on the lower part of his calves. The same went for his arms. Since he had his skin exposed, he must have been scraped here and there by grass and branches.

They weren’t serious injuries, but they looked quite stinging. He tried to ignore it, but he couldn’t stop worrying. Shin Ho-jae turned his head toward him again.

Jung-hyun shivered as if he were cold. Although it was June, Canada’s temperature was similar to spring in Seoul. Moreover, since he had been hit by the rain, his body temperature would drop if left like this. Looking closely, the color had already faded slightly from his lips.

Shin Ho-jae took off the windbreaker he was wearing and handed it to Jung-hyun. Kwon Jung-hyun, receiving the clothes unexpectedly, looked up as if wondering why. He could see the hair clumped in strands over his forehead, wet from the rain.

Not only that, but his T-shirt and shorts were also soaked, revealing his physique without filter. Perhaps because of the moisture, he looked strangely erotic.

Shin Ho-jae spoke, involuntarily averting his gaze.

“Put it on. Use the hood too.”

“I’m not that much of a weakling.”

“Just put it on.”

Jung-hyun looked at Ho-jae with a face that seemed slightly wounded in his pride. Ho-jae ignored that look and asked.

“What’s your shoe size?”

“275, but…”

Unfortunately, the shoes didn’t match in size. Since wearing shoes that were too large would be dangerous, it seemed he couldn’t swap shoes with him.

Nevertheless, still worried, Ho-jae looked at his shoes, and perhaps thinking he was pestering him, Jung-hyun stopped arguing and obediently put on Shin Ho-jae’s clothes and pulled up the hood.

Perhaps because the size was large, the hood was too loose. If left like this, it would soon slip back and his head would get wet.

Shin Ho-jae stepped forward. Their eyes met, but Ho-jae looked away first. Then, he grabbed the hem of the windbreaker and zipped it up. After that, he fastened the Velcro on the hood.

Feeling that he had fastened it too loosely, he detached it and attached it more firmly. In doing so, his fingers touched the other’s face and lower jaw. Both Shin Ho-jae’s hand and the other’s face were wet from the rain, so the surfaces were cold and slippery.

If he lifted his gaze slightly, he could see the other’s lips. Suddenly, a curiosity arose as to whether those lips were still rough and cold.

21 – Puck Drop